Learn, assess... Badge!
A Badge represents a skill (or a skill-set) and is designed by its issuer organization. The issuer defines the Badge content - how the represented skills must be understood -, but the issuer doesn't necessarily need to be the one providing learning towards these skills or assessing them for learners. The issuer could suggest or organize learning and assessment paths provided by trusted third parties.
Since skills can be born and grow in a wide array of contexts, the issuer can identify multiple learning opportunities, even provided by different organizations, so that the learner will be able to choose among them, on the basis of his or her needs or preferences. Similarly, assessment of skills can be delegated to a trusted third party.
On Bestr the multiplicity of ways a skill can be developed and assessed is expressed through Learning paths and Assessment paths that the issuer can associate to a Badge.
Learning path
Learning paths are a selection of learning resources which can help learners in developing the skill represented by the Badge. A Learning path can consist of a single resource (e.g. a attendance of a course) or of multiple resources, which can be aquired one after the other or alternatively: for example a Badge could have a Learning path consisting of one live training and another alternative path consisting of 2 online courses in sequence.
Learning resources can be provided by the issuer or by other organizations trusted by the issuer.
Usually learning resources are optional, unless they also inlcude the only available assessment possibility.
A learner starting his or her path towards a Badge can choose his or her Learning path among those available, and even follow it in part or not at all, based on his or her prior learning and skills.
Assessment path
The assessment is the only mandatory step towards a Badge. Assessment can take many forms: an interview, presentig projects and evidence, the observation of the learner by a tutor during training, completing a given set of actions on online systems, acquiring one or more Badges.
Assessment for a Badge is described in the Criteria paragraph and can be made more explicit through actual assessment resources: this is especially useful when resources are online and accessible regardless of learning paths.
Assessment resources can be provided by the issuer, by the learning provider or by a different organization delegated by the issuer.
The assessment path is mandatory and usually doesn't offer room for choices - making it different from the Learning path. An assessment path can be made of different assessment resources, which the learner will have to complete.
This is the second of a series of posts intended to explain how Bestr implements the Open Badges model to bring value to people's lifelong learning experiences and the job market..
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